Driver In Bizarre Crash Off Overpass Onto Route 17 In Ramsey Charged With DWI Assault

UPDATE: A Ramsey driver was drunk when her out-of-control SUV crashed through an overpass guard rail and rolled down an embankment onto Route 17, where it broadsided another vehicle, authorities said.

The 2020 Chevrolet Equinox was struck by the out-of-control Toyota Rav4 on southbound Route 17 in Ramsey.
Photo Credit: *RAMSEY FD*

Ramsey resident Rosa Griffin's 2018 Toyota Rav4
Photo Credit: *RAMSEY FD*

The smashed-up 2020 Chevy Equinox
Photo Credit: *RAMSEY FD*

Jerry DeMarco

07/25/2023 4:11 p.m.

Good Samaritans rushed to upright the 2018 Toyota Rav4 and help Rosa Griffin, 56, out after the bizarre crash shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, July 24, Ramsey Police Detective Jaclyn Sabatelli said.

Griffin was headed north on Franklin Turnpike when she lost control of the Rav4, Sabatelli said.

The SUV hit the curb-high barrier median, then accelerated through a guardrail and a thicket of brush before slamming into a 2020 Chevrolet Equinox driven by a 20-year-old woman from Passaic, the detective said.

She and Griffin were both taken to Hackensack University Medical Center by members of the Ramsey Volunteer Ambulance Corps.

Griffin was criminally charged with assault by auto and issued multiple summonses for, among other offenses, driving while intoxicated.

Responders included Ramsey police and firefighters, members of Ramsey Rescue and the Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification, which collected evidence.

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